laura robb's new middle school writing curriculum - heinemann

• tap into adolescents’ socialanddevelopmental needs

• align your writing instruction with the common core state standards

• enhance your professional development

PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs

Laura Robb’s new middle schoolwriting curriculum helps you:

Laura Robb

• 4 decades of teaching experience

• acclaimed author of such titles as– Teaching Middle School Writers (2010)– Teaching Reading in Middle School (2nd ed. 2010)– Teaching Nonfiction Writing (2010)

• teacher trainer and coach

• one of nation’s top 20 educators byInstructor magazine


About the Author

teaching guide

• the research and professional understandings behind the series

• tips for using mentor texts

• guidelines for supporting students duringthe entire writing process

• strategies for addressing developmentalneeds

• plans for integrating the units into yourcurriculum


Professional Support

Resources cd-RoM

• a wealth of teaching tools support youthroughout the year

• teacher tools include– at-a-glance lesson planners– teaching charts– samples of genre criteria

• student handouts include– mentor texts– writing guidelines– peer and self-evaluation forms


Professional Support

The lessons & tools needed to teach the writinggenres middle school students need most

Getting StartedUNIT 1: Establishing Foundationsstudents describe their writing life and learnfoundational practices

Narrative WritingUNIT 2: Writing a Short Memoirstudents use details, dialogue, and strong verbs as they describe an eventUNIT 3: Writing a Short, Short Story students fictionalize a true experience byshowing, not telling


8 Writing Units

ArgumentUNIT 4: Writing a Persuasive Essaystudents craft compelling arguments UNIT 5: Writing an Analytical Essaystudents develop a thesis about a text and support their position with details

Informational/ExplanatoryWritingUNIT 6: Writing an Informative Essaystudents focus on a topic and present supporting informationUNIT 7: Writing a Compare/Contrast Essaystudents compare real events to historical fiction


8 Writing Units

Free Choice WritingUNIT 8: Writing in Any Genrestudents move through the writing process relyingon their knowledge, interests, and past lessons

each unit

• teaches the full writing process from planning and drafting to revising and presenting

• builds on instructional mentor texts

• describes in details Laura Robb’s teachingmoves and language

• includes artifacts and management tips


8 Writing Units

instruction is assessment driven

• writer surveys help you learn about your students’ writing lives

• Laura models how to use negotiated criteria to guide and monitor students writing

• assessment strategies include peer & self-evaluations

• units conclude with tips for assessing students’ understanding and strategies for differentiating instruction

• professional study suggestions help you evaluate and enhance your own teaching practice


8 Writing Units

Mentor texts

• develop a mental model of the genre

• introduce the genre in each unit

• written by professional writers andstudents

• provided in a reproducible formatand in a projectable e-format

• additional mentor texts help you varyinstruction and match your students’ reading levels


Student Resources

Mentor Text: “A Pox Upon Us All” (page 1 of 2)©2012 by Heinemann from Smart Writing: Practical Units for Teaching Middle School Writers by Laura Robb (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

A Pox Upon Us AllBy Ralph Fletcher

We kids did everything together. We sat at the same table, eating the same

food, breathing the same air. We shared jokes, songs, glasses, towels, and

toys. We loved to set up a line of blocks so that when you toppled one it would

start a chain reaction and knock them down all the way from the living room to

the bathroom.

We shared the same germs too. First one of us would catch a cold or

cough or flu, then another kid would get it a day or so later, followed by another

and another…until there were so many sick kids lying around the house, it felt

like we were living in a hospital.

When I was really sick I got to sleep downstairs in Mom and Dad’s bed

during the day. I loved that. The saddest part for me was when the other kids

got sick and I got evicted from the big bed. Usually Mom forbade us to turn on

the TV during the day, but when we were sick she made an exception and let us

watch for an hour or so.

I loved being sick, because that’s when I got extra-special care from Mom.

She would fix me soup or an egg on toast for lunch. When my nose got plugged

up or I had a bad cough, she rubbed Vicks on my chest. But I never got a really

big slice of Mom’s time because there were always babies and toddlers at

home, and she had her hands full with them.

The winter I was nine we all got chicken pox at the same time. Mom about

wore herself out trying to take care of us. It got so bad that Dad stayed home

from work to help out.

“Don’t scratch!” Mom kept saying as we picked at the sores on our bodies.

She gave us baths with baking soda, which left a strange, gritty residue at the

bottom of the tub. For the first few days we were perfectly content lying around

the house in our pajamas, doing puzzles, reading comics, watching daytime TV.

But being cooped up inside soon made us restless. We needed an outlet for all

that pent-up energy.

Mom took the baby to the store to buy some food. The instant she drove

away, we started racing through the house, yelling at the top of our lungs,

having wild pillow fights, completely forgetting that we were sick. When Mom

came home she scolded us for messing up the house. The next day our mus-

cles hurt, and Mom said we had used them too quickly after being sick for so

long.

“A Pox Upon Us All” from the book Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher. Copyright © 2005 by Ralph Fletcher. Reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Mentor Text: “Summer: 15 Days or 2 ½ Months?” (page 1 of 2)©2012 by Heinemann from Smart Writing: Practical Units for Teaching Middle School Writers by Laura Robb (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann). This page may be reproduced for classroom use only.

Summer: 15 Days or 2½ Months?

The final bell rings. It’s the last day of school, and summer has finally come! Students don’t have to think about school for at least another 2½ months. That is the way it should always be. Schools should continue using the traditional calendar and not a year-round schedule. There are numerous downsides to year-round schooling. It has no positive effects on education, it adds to costs, and it disrupts the long-awaited summer vacation.

Contrary to the well-accepted belief, year-round schooling has no con-structive impact on education. Most year-round schedules use the 45-15 method: 45 days of school followed by 15 days off. Because of this, there are many first and last days of school. All those transitions disrupt the learning process. Also, there is no evidence of higher test scores. Due to that, many schools that change to year-round schedules end up switching back. For example, since 1980, 95 percent of schools that tried the year-round schedule changed back to a traditional calendar. It is obvious that changing to year-round schooling does not help students; therefore, why is the change necessary?

Like any other facility, keeping a school open requires a great deal of money. When a school changes to a year-round schedule, the costs skyrocket. Keeping school open in the middle of summer requires air conditioning, and that adds significantly to the school’s expenses. The usual utility bills grow because of the additional open-school time. Finally, teachers must be paid for all the weeks they are working. With all these factors, the cost of keeping schools open becomes immensely high. For example, a high school in Arizona had a cost increase of $157,000 when they switched to year-round schooling. Some schools may not be able to handle such increases, and other schools that can handle these expenses could be doing better things with the money. Is year-round school really where the money should go?

An important part of a child’s life is summertime. With year-round schedules, students would hardly have any time to relax. During the 15-day breaks, they would be thinking about their quick return to school. It would also be difficult to coordinate family vacations with parents’ work

From Write Source student essay “Summer: 15 Days or 2 ½ Months?” by 7th grade student Jordan. Copyright © 2010 by Great Source Education Group. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

smart Writing handbook

• compact, easy-to-carry writing guide for students

• offers strategic support through the entire writing process

• reviews minilessons that students mayhave missed or forgotten

• helps students address expected writingconventions

• available in affordable class packs of 10 and 30


Student Resources

smart Writing staff development dVd

• live-from-the-classroom video lets youeavesdrop on Laura as she: – taps into adolescents’ social and developmental needs

– analyzes mentor texts with a writer’s eye– negotiates assessment criteria that guide the entire writing process

– fosters students’ independence through self-evaluation and peer feedback

– aligns your lessons with the common core state standards


Additional Professional Development Resources

teaching Middle school Writers

• lessons and routines that tap into adolescents’personal writing lives

• strategies for crafting leads that entice and endings that satisfy

• grammar lessons that address writing conventions

• guidelines for grading and responding tostudent work

• affordable bundles for professional bookstudy


Additional Professional Development Resources

l Smart Writing: Practical Units for Teaching Middle School Writers Grades 5–8 / 978-0-325-03395-2 / 2012 / 7 books + CD-ROM / $120.00

l Smart Writing Student HandbookGrades 5–8 / 978-0-325-04371-5 / 2012 / 96pp / $9.95

Smart Writing Handbook 10 PACK978-0-325-04372-2 / 10 copies / $89.55 —SAVE $9.95

Smart Writing Handbook 30 PACK978-0-325-04373-9 / 30 copies / $238.80 —SAVE $59.70

l Smart Writing Staff DevelopmentDVD Grades 5–8 / 978-0-325-04370-8 / 2012 / 120 min est. + guide / $195.00

l Teaching Middle School Writers: What Every English Teacher Should KnowGrades 5–8 / 978-0-325-02657-2 / 2010 / 352pp + DVD / $28.50

Teaching Middle School Writers Book Study Bundle978-0-325-03135-4 / 15 books / $363.38—SAVE $64.12


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laura robb's new middle school writing curriculum - heinemann

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